The lies about plastic packaging

Brut America

"Recyclable, compostable, plant-based" — are these plastics really any better?   A researcher at Greenpeace USA breaks it down for us.

Transcript

00:00So much plastic!

00:04My name is Ivy Schlegel.

00:05I'm a research specialist at Greenpeace.

00:08And today I'm going to take you on a tour of all the groceries and all of the plastic

00:14packaging that I found at my local grocery store.

00:17And we're going to look at all the labels and find out the real truth behind labels

00:22like recyclability, biodegradable, and compostable.

00:25Some of these are flat out deceptive.

00:28Some of these are confusing to consumers, but technically they're allowable by law because

00:33they have all the right words in there.

00:34And that's really just greenwashing.

00:37One of the first things I got was coffee pods.

00:44It has a recycling symbol, but there's a bunch of writing on it.

00:48Not recycled in all communities.

00:51That is true.

00:52We found out through our research last year that around less than 1% of Americans have

00:56access to recycling for polypropylene coffee pods.

01:01The problem is that just because something is recyclable does not mean that it is actually

01:06recycled.

01:07Of all the plastic that's ever been produced in the world since the 1950s, only 9% of that

01:14has ever been recycled.

01:16That is such a small amount.

01:19One of the things that's really confusing about the recycling arrows is it suggests

01:23a continuous constant loop.

01:25In fact, the majority of the plastic that is recycled gets down-cycled into something

01:31of lesser value.

01:32So things like textiles or plastic lumber.

01:35And that's not really addressing the problem, which is runaway production of plastic packaging.

01:44These, yeah, so these are compostable cups.

01:47So the label says they're non-toxic, they're compostable, they'll break down in months,

01:52not millennia.

01:53A cup like this will probably not degrade in a home composting system.

01:57What compostable plastic means is it's a type of plastic that can, is designed to be broken

02:02down in an industrial composter.

02:05So that's a composting system that has extremely high heat and high humidity.

02:09If it's not anywhere near where I am when I have this party cup in my hand, I am probably

02:15just going to put this in the trash.

02:17When I read this label, too, it says it's made from plants.

02:24And I looked in the back and it says they're made from corn.

02:26And that's promoted as something good.

02:28So the way corn and other industrial crops is farmed is incredibly harmful to the environment

02:35and carries huge greenhouse gas emissions.

02:38So this type of farming is not environmentally sustainable.

02:43It's really not even an ecological solution for food, much less for throwaway packaging

02:48like this.

03:06All of the world's biggest food and beverage companies and personal care companies, they

03:10have heard from their customers directly that they are not happy about the amount of

03:17plastic in the environment, yet they continue to make an increasing amount of their products

03:22wrapped in plastic packaging.

03:24So there's a lot of motivation for them to put these kinds of labels on products.

03:40So, all of the plastic, from the way it's produced, from that oil and gas drilling and

04:01the carbon it releases when it's littered into the environment, these are all things

04:05we can't ignore.

04:10There are so many small business owners, restaurant owners that have come up with creative ways

04:26to use less plastic or no packaging.

04:30Companies are making different kinds of reusable cup systems and carry-your-own straws and

04:35different kinds of services that really try to imagine a world that doesn't have so much

04:40plastic in it.

04:41I find that really exciting.

04:43If small businesses can do it, all of these companies with a lot of money and resources

04:47should be able to do it too.

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